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Thanks guys. I'll do that starting next week. Thanks for the spreadsheet and the replies. I'll keep you all updated.

It depends on what substrate you are replacing with. A good brand like ADA Amazonia will only need 1.5 - 2 L. It might extend the length of time, but it will affect the pH for sure. Too much and your pH will drop below the ideal 6 - 6.5. I wouldn't reset it if everything is fine. You can try other methods of dropping pH like more dried leaves and driftwood.

Just use less Salty Shrimp mix, so that your change water TDS is below 200.

Just been going through similar with CurlyJones. You will get closer and closer to the 200 but it will be painfully slow. I would do as recommended to him that you make the new water around TDS 100 when you do a water change, so after the next that should reduce the TDS to about 225 afterwards. The important thing though is to add the new water gradually, I know a dripper isn't practical with your large tank so maybe add 1 gallon every hour or something (only necessary as you are changing the TDS by a noticeable amount). Keep water change water to the TDS 100 until you get to the figure you want to get too! You should ALWAYS top up between water changes using pure RO water with no mineralisers! You should be able to use the spreadsheet I attached to CurlyJones even though it is in litres but it should still work the same as it is the proportion that is more important I think anyway. I attach a copy changed for 60 gallons and 10% water as it makes calculating the new water TDS requirement much easier? TDS Calculator.xlsx It won't be 100% though unless you know the correct figures to input, ie my 35L tank actually has 28L of water, the size of the tank would only be 35L if it were filled to the very top and had nothing else in it! Hope that makes sense? Hope you haven't had any more shrimp deaths. Simon

There are different approaches and you can use any method really, depending on what you want to achieve? Initially you are wanting to reduce the overall TDS, but not too drastically so I would do 10% (1.5L) water changes with new water of about 100TDS, ona SLOW drip and that will take you to 275 from 295 first change and take it from there. The TDS will increase over a period from evaporation unless you top it up with zerowater between changes. At this stage you then have to decide upon how often you do a water change and to start with I would try 2 per week at 1.5L of TDS 100 slow dripped. After the second change you should be about 255 so virtually there so I would then go to NORMAL maintenance regime (next paragraph). INCIDENTLY YOU WILL GET THE EXACT SAME FIGURES IF YOU DO THE SAME CHANGES AS THIS, BUT JUST 1L CHANGES WITH JUST ZEROWATER, which is what I think your question is so it is up to you which you do? As you have some nitrate readings I would probably do the 2 x 1.5L TDS 100s personally. Do slower dripper though than you will normally as you are ending with 20TDS change in water! I am assuming 2L once per week, when the spreadsheet will be more useful for better accuracy. First 2L waterchange of TDS200 will take you to 248, and as long as you keep topping up with zerowater in between changes from then on you change with about TDS250 new water, so you should be all set from then anyway! As the old and new waters are virtually the same you can do faster dripping than when doing bigger TDS changes. This is of coarse based on variables such as 'have you kept the tank topped up', sometimes I get lazy nearer water change time so end up taking out less than I add new water but that can be worked out using the spreadsheet to work out what you need to mix the new water too, to get it right, hence tomorrow I will be removing 2L of TDS 165 water and putting in 3L of TDS 140 new water to get it back to TDS160 and at the right fill level for the tank. I think I would do as you are and leave the duck weed in this tank as it is probably absorbing some nitrates as you say so forming part of the cycle. I wouldn't use it in the new tank at all though, just use the water lettuce etc which is much easier to deal with. Hope this helps and you should be running as a normal parameter tank with a regular regime to make life easier and straightforward in a week! Simon

I use the spreadsheet (I think I have attached before, but if not ask and I will attach it again) when ever I do maintenance/water change, which is once a week. I only use pure RO water for topping up. It is easy to use the spreadsheet as all you need to do is change the blue numbers and that way you can work out what will be the after effect. If your tank has 14L of water and you change 1L of water for pure RO it will take the tank to about 275, but that drop from 295 is fairly large (20TDS) so I would drip it in over a long period? I did exactly the same with the 15L tank when it was running, 2L water change once a week, using the spreadsheet to calculate what TDS to mix the new water too 'roughly' to get it to near the figure I want to get too, though obviously no single large change. Tomorrow is my shrimp day and I have calculated (using my spreadsheet) the new water needs to be about TDS 140 to take the tank down to 160 which is where I aim for (it is about 165 at the moment). The figures may look dramatic, but the overall drop is only 5TDS! If you don't know what the end result is I think you will be wasting a lot of time and money with trial and error and it could all go horribly wrong, so please try the spreadsheet and once you have worked out how to use it (I can give more help if needed) it really is so simple you will wonder why you didn't use it before? Using the specific shrimp products as you are you don't need to keep checking the Gh and KH at this point, just every so often will be fine. I understand the wish to get more shrimps but you should consider that the babies will grow quite quickly and each time the female has eggs it will be about 30 which will hatch about a month later and you only have a tiny tank. I started with a 15L tank and within months I had 100 shrimp, way too many for that tank to sustain! As for the genetics and gene pool etc that is a way off yet that you need to worry too much about that. When you get a larger tank it is likely to be at least a month before you can transfer the shrimps to it as well! Babies will be almost full size after 3 months also, as you have witnessed yourself how quickly they grow! Wow, this is a long post and hopefully it makes sense and I don't mean it to sound negative in any way! Hopefully you are getting on top of the duckweed as well and pleased it is going so well. Simon ps I have decided to attach the spreadsheet anyway! I assume 14L of water? TDS Calculator.xlsx

Good to hear the babies are doing well and a good colour with it, you may not need to buy any new shrimps next month after all? I hope you used the TDS meter that came with the zerowater jug, as your other one had a 006 reading at zero if I recall? Also you should use a clean dry jug/container after the water is filtered. When I started I filled a jug with water, poured it into the zerowater jug, then poured it back into the jug for taking to the tank and there was obviously a bit of tap water (very little) in the jug still so that will give you a small reading? At least you have the dripper to use if/when you get new shrimp to acclimatise them. The slower dripping had little to do with temperature, it was a slower adjustment to the water parameters. I tend to take most of a day to put the new water into a tank after maintenance, but once the dripper is in place it is just left to do its thing, but if you prefer doing it quicker and it seems to have been fine so far then go for it, cherry shrimps are much hardier so you should be fine either way. As regards the seller of the shrimps you were considering, as JayC states is best, just remember my tap water is 170 and yours is 330 so it could be vastly different depending where he lives. My guess though is that his TDS may be high as if he is topping up with tap water the TDS will gradually rise over time with evaporation. Simon

I suddenly remembered this supplier from many years ago when I got my red cherry shrimp, so it is worth considering him as I know the colour is good and price reasonable, £2.50 each or 15 for £30. All his stock is showing as out of stock, but I believe this is because he is working on his new website (it is completely different from the one when I bought my shrimps) so you could 'contact' him if you are interested, or it may be up and running anyway by the time you are ready to buy? http://www.shrimpland.co.uk/default.asp There is a video linked to the bloody mary shrimps which is on youtube which is of his bloody mary shrimps, ie he posted the video! Simon

A tip with ebay and sellers on social media is to get them to send a picture of the actual shrimp being sold. The pictures on ebay are not necessarily the ones you will be getting.

I personally don't use baby food, they can feed of the biofilm, and when they get bigger, they can start to savage just like the adults. If you really care, put some Indian almond leaves.

I imagine the new babies live off the tank biofilm for the first weeks at least and doubt they can manage ellet food at that age. The food that comes in pellets I smash up with a hammer, otherwise they all fight over it, they obviously make them in pellet form so it makes it easy to judge how much to use (ie 1 pellet per ?? shrimps) etc. There are specific baby shrimp foods, I use chi ebi ?? which is in powder form so I dip a pin in the water just the end 2mm or so, then into the powder (very briefly) then into the tank. Don't get too heavy handed with the food at this stage as I believe they only eat biofilm (usually the baby shrimp food isn't really food but promotes biofilm growth I think). Overfeeding can be worse than under feeding/ Simon

I am delighted that it is all gong so well and you have babies. They will hide naturally when they are young so you won't really know how many babies there are for a while. The parameters are closer than ever and probably now you can just make the new water at the 200 you state, but they are all at the upper 'acceptable' range now. It should also be much easier as you don't need to keep checking ALL the parameters so often, just use the TDS meter to give you an idea of whats happening and do the others once a week for a few weeks and then once a fortnight should be fine. You probably can hold off getting any new shrimps until you get the new tank settled in, especially as you don't know how many shrimplets you already have and it is a small tank. The tap on the dripper is a bit awkward to regulate but I would try to slow down the drips to one per second on such a small tank, doesn't sound much I know but that is still 60/minute................... It is also great to here you are getting on top of the duckweed as well. Simon

LOL. I'm sure you will come up with another reason to get more.

Pic of dripper filling Bertie the betta tank that I have just done! Hope this makes it clearer? Simon

As JayC says, why not use it for your own home made one. I put the lid on the top of the aquarium to prop up the back of the container so it is higher at the back and then all but about an egg cup full comes out which I just pour in to the tank Simon ps I sent the photos back before I read this and saw you had worked out how to get the photos uploaded.

Why would it be cheating? Just use it.

If you keep that spreadsheet it will help when you set up the new tank. I did my shrimp tank this morning and I always use it? To shrink the pictures I was (always am) on my google chrome book, I just opened them, clicked edit and it came out with a size of 3000 x 3000 ish which I just changed to 1500 x 1500 size, saved and sent back. You can always send to me any pictures you want the same done too if you want, it is so very easy on this thing, and then I can send them back. Hope the dripper arrives for the bank holiday. Simon

That sounds like a good plan. Hopefully you will get to see more shrimps when you do less work in the tank as well. I think your tank design is similar to the 15L I started with, where everything is built into a back section. If you are leaving the next change until the weekend you should have the dripper by then so that will help everyone! Do you still have the fish or are they in another tank? Shrimps aren't too bothered with water movement in my experience so you can turn up the filter if you want too, but I would leave it as it has been running all along. You are so close now that I would probably just do one 20% water change a week. Topping up with RO water not mineralised. I don't know whether this will help but I use a version of it to work out what TDS I need to make the new water to get the tank to the TDS I want. ie last week I forgot to top up the tank all week, so I actually had to make water TDS 067 to get it back to the 160 I aim for, but with the dripper adding it slowly it didn't matter. You have to change the blue figures for your specifics. To be accurate you need to put the actual water number in the tank, ie my 15L tank had 12L of water, so not the 15L the tank is said to be? Ask if you want any further info on it. Simon

Great the photos work, thats a relief! I imagine a bathroom sealant will be the best bet, if it is non toxic, not sure whether it will say that or not? Or they may actually have one specially for aquariums at B&Q which may be more pliable when set? Simon

Hopefully the shrimps are just hiding but you have been doing a lot of water changes in a short time and without a dripper to slowly acclimatise. You are close to the right figures now so it probably is worth doing just one a day (20%, TDS200) and when you get the dripper it will be a lot gentler on the shrimps! Fingers crossed you haven't lost any ! ! Are the nitrate and GH figures going down as well? I sent back your email with shrunk photo files so you can try using those, the one I tried worked and I deleted it afterwards. Simon